Door-opener.



J. H. KITCHEN & W. STILLER.

DOOR OPENER. APPLICATION FILED APR.17, 1912.

1,042,800, Patented Oct. 29, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANDORAPH co., WASHINGTON, 0. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JACOB H. KITCHEN AND \VENZEL STILLER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOBS TO AKARD DOOR OPENER COMPANY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORA- TION OF CALIFORNIA.

DOOR-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 17, 1912. Serial No. 691,275.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, JACOB H. KITCHEN and WVENZEL STILLER, both citizens of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Door-Openers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for the opening and closing of doors, and particularly to the opening and closing of doors which are located at a floor other than that on which a person may be standlng.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a substantial, reliable and effective device whereby doors may be opened from a station more or less dist-ant from the door, means being provided in combination with the door opening apparatus to release the latch of the door.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved latch releasing device for doors, the design of the device being such that the door may be opened or closed by a person, irrespective and without the manipulation of the unlatching apparatus.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus showing the door in horizontal cross-section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus looking toward the inside surface of the door.

In its present embodiment, our invention comprises a train of links and levers by which power may be applied to open or close a door 2, mounted on hinges 3 of a j amb 4 of the doorway; the free edge of the door being provided with the usual form of latch 5, which may be operated by the turning of a knob 6 on the door 2.

One of the important features of the present invention resides in the means whereby the latch of the door may be actuated to release the door when power is applied from the interior of the building to open the door, and particularly to provide a latch actuating device of such construction that 1t will be uneffected, practically, when the door is opened by means of its knob 6.

The latch releasing device consists in the present instance of a lever 7 having an end and is connected at one end by a link 10 to a bell crank 11 fulcrumed at 12 in the bottom of the jamb 8; one arm of the lever 11 being connected by a link 13 extending beneath the threshold of the door to the opposite jamb 4, where it is connected at 14 to the downwardly projecting end of a latchoperating lever 15. The latch-operating lever 15 is pivoted as at 16, on one end of a bracket 17 which is shown as secured to a horizontal brace 18, secured to the studs of a partition or wall 19.

Normally the force of a spring 7 a is suffic ent, by acting upon the lever 7, to pull the l1nk 13 toward the jamb 8 in the doorway, and by this means draw the latch-operating lever 15 into normal contact with a stop 15*,-

or against a roller 20 mounted on the end of the link 21, which is pivoted at 22 on a bell crank 23.

The bell crank 23 is mounted on a journal or gudgeon 24 of the bracket 17. Also mounted on the gudgeon 24 for partial independent movement relative the bell crank 23, is a rock arm 25 in which is mounted a pin 26 projecting downwardly into a slot 27 formed in the adjacent parallel arm of the bell crank 23; the pin 26 of the rock arm 25 is connected to a link 28 which is extended to some station, floor or other location in the building from which it is desired to operate the door 2. The link 28 is shown as connected adjacent the station which may be an upper floor in the building, to a lever arm 30 fast upon a shaft 31 supported in a bearing 32 in the wall adjacent the station; the shaft 31 being provided with an operating handle 33, projecting into the room or hall at the station from which the door 2 is to be operated.

The initial portion of the movement of the handle 33, transmits force through the link 28 to swing the rock arm 25 about its supporting pivot 24; this first movement of the rock arm 25 being transmitted by a link 34 mounted on the pin 26 to the pivot 35 mounted in the end of the link 21, pivoted at 22 on the bell crank 23. Thus when the link 34 is moved by the rock arm 25 and the link 28, the roller 20 against which the latch operating lever 15 is drawn, as shown in Fig. 1, will. swing and the lever will be swung about its pivot 16 pulling on the link 13 which is connected to the bell crank 11, and this, oscillating, will pull down the link 10 and swing the lever 7 so that the latch 5 will be disengaged from the amb 8.

When the latch 5 has been disengaged by the initial nmven'ient of the handle 33, through the swinging of the rock arm 25 and the movement of the roller 20 against the latch operating lever 15, then the sub sequent movement oi the link 28 operated by the handle 83 will carry the pin 26 ot the rock arm 25 into enga ement with the wall at the end of the slot 24 in the bell crank 23, whereupon the bell crank 23 will begin to swing, due to the force applied through the link 26 and by means of a link 36 connected at 37 to an arm. of the bell crank 23, rock a door actuator or lever 38 which is connected at to one end of the link 36.

The door actuator or lever 38 is pivoted at 40 on a suitable bracket or other support ll, secured to the adjacent jamb 4c and the outer end oi. the lever 38, which engages a stirrup or other device -12 fastened on the rear side of the door and will, when swinging away from the plane of the doorway, swing the door 2 open about its hinge 8.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The initial movement of the operating handle shifts the link 28, which is connected to the pin 26, so that the arm swings slightly about its pivot 24 independently of the bell. crank 23, which has an arcuate slot 27 in one arm. Normally the arm 25 is shifted so as to carry the pin 26 to the position shown in 1, in the slot 27 due to the expansion oi a spring or other suitable device ffi, one end of which engages the arm and the other engages the bell crank 23, the resilient eltectof the spring being to maintain the pin 26 at one end of the slot 27 and thus pull the link 84tso as to draw the roller 20 toward the pivot 24: of the bracket 17, said roller being located adjacent the latch operating lever and at the joint of the toggle connection formed by the links 21 and 34:; when pressure is applied through the link 28 to the pin 26 and the arm 25, the link 3 L swings the roller 20 outwardly away from the pivot 24, the link 21 carrying the roller swinging on its fulcrum 22 on the bell crank 23; the outward swinging of the roller 20 being sutlicient to press the latch operating lever 15 so that it will pull on the link 13 to unlock the latch 5. Further application of force from the handle through the link 38 carries the pin 26 firmly into engagement with the wall at the opposite end of the slot 27, whereby the bell crank will swing on its support or axis 24:, and through the link 36 move the actuator or lever 38 to open the door 2.

When it is desired to close the door by means of the lever 33, the pull on the link 28 will be transmitted through the pin 26, which has been forced automatically by the spring 43 to its normal position in the slot 27, will pull or swing the bell crank 23 about its fulcrum 24-, and the movement of this will draw the link 36 to swing the lever 38 in the direction to close the door 2.

The door 2 may be opened by the manipulation of its knob 6 to withdraw the latch 5 from the jamb 8; this being done without regard to the latch operating lever 7, so that the door may be opened and closed at will without transmitting any movement whatever to the door unlatching mechanism. The roller 20 will not engage the lever 15 when the door is opened by means of its knob, since it will swing in an are about the pivot 24 and just clear the adjacent face of the latch-operating lever 15.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a hinged door having a latch engageable with a jamb, of a lever adapted to release the latch, a latch operating lever connected to said latch releasing lever, and means for actuating the latch operating lever, said means comprising a bell-crank and means connecting the same to the door, a rock-arm adjacent-the bellcrank and movable relative thereto, and a toggle-link connection between one of the arms of the bell-crank and said rock-arm, the joint of said toggle-link connection being disposed adj acent the latch-operating lever whereby the latter is actuated to initially release the latch and the bell-crank is subsequently operated to open the door.

2, The combination with a hinged door having a latch engageable with a jamb, of a lever adapted to release the latch, a latch operating lever connected to said latch releasing lever, and means for actuating the latch-operated lever, said means comprising a bell-crank and means connecting the same to the door, a spring actuated rock-arm adjacent the bell-crank and movable relative thereto, and a toggle-link connection between one of the arms of the bell-crank and said rock-arm, the joint of said toggle-link connect-ion being disposed adjacent the latch operating lever whereby the latter is actuated to initially release the latch, and the bell-crank is subsequently operated to open the door.

3. The combination with a hinged door having a latch engageable with a jamb, of a lever adapted to release the latch, a latch operating lever connected to said latch re leasing lever, and means for actuating the latch operating lever, said means comprising a bell-crank and means connecting the same to the door, a rock-arm adjacent the bellcrank, and a toggle-link connection between one of the arms of the bell-crank and said rock-arm, the joint of said toggle-link connection being disposed adjacent the latchoperating lever whereby the latter is actuated to initially release the latch and the bell-crank is subsequently operated to open the door, said bell-crank having one arm provided with a curved slot, and said rockarin having a stud operable in said slot whereby the lever has a movement relative to the bell-crank.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JACOB H. KITCHEN. WVENZEL STILLER. Witnesses:

JOHN H. HERRING, GENEVIEVE S. DONELIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

